Present:
Buck Wilmington sighed and lay his head back on the ground, again cursing himself for not paying attention. Now here he was lying, trapped beneath his horse no-one in sight and night was fast approaching. Winter was begining to set in and the nights had become bitter and windy. At least he could reach his bedroll.
As he twisted his body so he could undo the ties to his blanket, he winced as his motion caused a burning fire to run across his broken ribs.
"Damn." Buck cursed and lay back down until the pain subsided. Just how had he gotten himself into this mess anyway? He remembered the events of yesterday evening.
Yesterday:
"Damn it Buck!" Chris Larabee snarled. "I said, let it go!"
"No way Chris!" Buck challenged him back. "This is not right and you know it!"
Ezra and Vin stood watching the argument with trepidation. Buck was courting disaster. Chris had been in a foul mood all day and now Buck was pushing him.
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Buck. I gave you an order, and I expect you to do it!" Chris' expression grew cold, Vin grimaced, now all hell was going to break loose "And if it doesn't meet with your approval, you can leave."
"Leave?" Buck looked stunned. "What the ...."
"It is very simple." Chris turned and started walking away "If you can't do as your told, I don't need you around. End of story."
"But Chris.." Buck started to get angry all over again.. "Tomorrow is..."
"I gave you your assignment." Chris looked over his shoulder, no emotion on his face. "I expect you to either do it. Or leave."
With that he entered the saloon, leaving a stunned Ezra and Vin and a furious Buck behind.
"Well now." Ezra drawled, regaining his composure "I wonder what it is about this week that has our tempermental leader so off in his demeanor?"
Buck just glared at the swinging doors to the saloon.
"Buck." Vin asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "What's tomorrow?"
Buck shook off the hand and stalked to the livery. His grey was out with a bruised hoof from throwing a shoe the day before and he had to take one of the others.
"I do not think our loquatious friend there is going to elaborate on this incident." Buck heard Ezra say.
And Buck's thoughts turned to sadder times and the memories the proximity of tomorrow's date brought. Angrily he saddled the horse and mounted it, heading away from Four Corners and to the west. "Oh Sarah, it looks like I'm not going to be able to put flowers on your grave this year."
Tomorrow was the anniversary of the deaths of Sarah and Adam Larabee.
Present:
JD sat on the porch , waiting for Buck to return from his errand. Chris had ordered his friend to pick up a prisoner in the town of Rapid Falls, a half-days ride west. He should be back soon. JD wondered at the strange mood Chris was displaying. He had heard from Ezra at the night before's poker game that Buck and Chris had gotten into a fight and Buck rode out in a huff. Was Buck doing the errand? Or was he leaving? JD didn't want to think about what it would be like if Buck left them.
"Any sign of him?" Josiah approached quietly, startling the younger man upright.
"No." JD sighed. "And he should have been back already."
"Yes, he usually does this run in good time." Josiah sat in the chair next to the young sherrif.
"You think..." JD turned to Josiah, uncertainty on his face. "that he ...left?"
"No, I don't." Josiah sighed. "I think if Buck was going to abandon Chris for being angry at him, he would have done it long ago. Besides, he left his Grey here, he'll be back for him."
"Yeah." JD smiled "Have you seen Chris today?"
"I believe he went to his old homesite. Ezra surmised that it might be the anniversary of his family's death today. Nathan seems to agree with him." Josiah sighed, wondering what had posessed Chris to react to Buck like he had. Buck had only suggested he and Chris ride out to their gravesite together.
JD nodded, and as the sun slowly sank into night, he began to worry.
+ + + + + + +
Buck finally managed to pull the blanket up over himself, somewhat sheltering him from the cold of the riverbed. The spring had dried it out, but at the first rain, it would fill. Buck just hoped it wouldn't be soon.
He cursed himself for getting cought in a situation like this. Everything had gone well in Rapid Falls. He and the prisoner, a short, sullen man named Light-fingered Jack, were on their way back to Four Corners.
A shot had rung out and Buck's horse had been hit and killed, pinning him beneath it. Jack had grinned as his accomplices rode up to get him.
"I guess your just stuck, aren't you?" Jack laughed horribly. "It will be even more fun knowing your lying here, dying, and nobody knows about it! Have a nice night, Deputy!"
That had been this morning, Buck had lain there, trapped all day. His water was going and he was feeling the pain of his broken ribs.
Buck wondered if they had noticed he wasn't home yet? Or would they think he had left? He groaned and settled in for the night, his trapped leg numb under the dead horse.
Four Corners, dusk:
Nathan strode into the saloon, telegram in hand, trying not to let himself fall into the panic it implied. He burst through the doors, instinctively turning towards the usual table. Ezra was there teasing JD, with Vin and Josiah looking on. Chris was nowhere to be seen. Vin looked up at Nathan and straightened up at the expression on the healers face.
"Nathan?" Vin half stood, instinctively knowing something was wrong. "What is it? Chris?"
"No" Nathan held out the telegram as he got to the table. Ezra took it first.
"This can't be right..." Ezra's normally smiling face was creased with worry. "It's from Rapid Falls. The Sherrif there was shot by the prisoner Buck was to be escorting back here. The deputy there said he'd been bragging about how they killed one lawman already."
"Buck?" JD looked wildly around at the suddenly grim faces around him. "What are we going to do?"
"We need to find Chris." Vin said taking the telegram from Ezra. "Saddle the horses, the trail to Rapid Falls is well traveled, we might get lucky."
"Get lucky with what?" A voice came from the doorway.
Vin looked up from the telegram sharply, his features betrayed the relief he felt at who was standing there. He extended the telegram. "Chris. Read this."
Chris Larabee took it slowly, noting the worry in each of the expressions before him. As he read the words, cold fury and a small bit of fear raced through his veins. "bragging about already killing one lawman..." The words on the paper ran through his mind over and over. Buck.
"Get the horses." Chris turned abruptly and strod from the room. The rest of them following him.
The Riverbed:
Buck coughed. The night was turning nasty. He looked up at the night sky, seeing the stars shining brilliantly down at him from the east. But to the west a group of heavy clouds prevented them from coming through.
"Wonderful." Buck said out loud to himself. "Storm clouds."
He grimaced as he was forced to twist around again, reaching for his duster. He could feel the broken ends grate togather. It was a sensation he had felt before when he had been thrown breaking colts at Chris's place, a few years ago. Sarah had taken care of him while he was laid up.
Buck felt a pang of sorrow for the gentle woman who was his best friend's wife. Thay hadn't deserved to die. Chris hadn't deserved to lose them. But it happened anyway. With a touch of irony, Buck realized if he died tonight, he would die on the same day as Chris's wife and son.
On the Trail:
Chris drove them hard. All of them could sense the approaching storm and didn't want to be caught in it. Vin was on point, taxing his abilities to the limit to follow a cold trail at night. They had to find out what happened. Of them all JD seemed to be taking it the hardest. Normally bubbly and talkative, he was silent. Chris had no expression on his face, but the urgency of his demeanor telling them all he was worried what they might find as well.
Vin stopped ahead of them and signaled he found something.
"What is it?" Chris dismounted to where the tracker was peering into the ground, lantern held over some tracks.
"Two horses went off there." He pointed to the canyon. "Four came out of it. Three different from the two that went in."
"So someone was left behind?" Josiah asked, looking off towards the canyon.
"Or went through somewhere." Vin stepped his foot into the stirrup and mounted his horse.
"If you go through that canyon, you can get to my place." Chris's voice hardened. Buck had still tried to make it to the gravesite to put flowers on it. Just like he did every year. Just like Chris had done earlier. Chris still hadn't been ready for company on that trip. The heart of his argument with Buck the day before.
"Well then, lets go!" JD started forward, the rest following.
Chris looked up at the fast approaching storm. They didn't have much time before any traces of the hoofprints would be washed away, making finding the trail even more impossible to find.
It was a race against time now.
The Riverbed:
Buck shivered, the wind had turned bitter and the storm was approaching. If it rained too hard a flash flood might come up and sweep him away. No one would ever find his body. Not that he wanted to die, but it was a terrible thought no one would ever know what happened to him.
Buck tried to reach one more time to pull the duster and blanket he carried more over him, but the broken ribs gave a nasty 'pop' and he groaned and sank back down. Was it his imagination, or was it getting harder for him to breathe.
"Please, Lord." Buck whispered, not having prayed in along time. "I don't want to die like this..."
Then it started to rain.
The Trail:
Vin shivered as the wind picked up and a light rain began to fall. He had tracked the three horses to where it became a muddle, and didn't know where to go next. It was getting darker now, and the lantern wasn't helping much anymore.
"Anything?" Chris shouted over the rain, pulling his poncho down .
"They met up here, the three, but then went in one direction, came back and exited the canyon." Vin got onto his horse, a thin thread of an idea forming.
"So where to from here" Ezra's southern drawl was tinged with both worry and annoyance. He was getting wet.
"Where do the trails lead?" Chris asked, reining his horse along side of Vin's.
"One out the way we came, and one towards the riverbed." Vin pointed it out to Chris who looked thoughtful.
"The river trail leads to the other side, that's what Buck would have taken." Chris was gripped with a sense of foreboding, something was going to happen if they didn't hurry. He took off down the trail, the others sensing danger, followed him.
They rounded a corner and Chris stopped his horse dead in it's tracks. In the riverbed ahead was something that didn't belong. "Buck!" THe word was a but a whisper in the growing gale, but Chris was sure that the shape ahead was his friend. And he looked to be in trouble. The creek was rising!
+ + + + + + +
Buck was begining to get worried. Water was filling the little creekbed and he was still unable to get out from under the horse. "Damn it!" He cursed, as the rain came down harder. "Give me a break will ya!"
Then he heard something had hoped to hear. The sound of horses fast approaching through the gale. Buck peered up into the rain, unable to see who it was.
"Buck?" It was Chris. Buck slumped down in relief. "Geez Buck! How long have you been here?"
"Way too long, pard." Buck grinned, relief making him almost dizzy. He watched other figures come out of the rain and knew he was safe.
"Buck!" It was JD, looking anxious and worried.
Suddenly the rest of the seven were hunkered down beside their fallen friend.
"I'd be much obliged if you could get me out of here." Buck's voice sounded weak, even to himself. He couldn't stop shaking he was so cold.
Nathan shot a look at Chris who nodded. Buck was alive, but was he unhurt?
"I suggest we extricate our compatriot with the upmost expediency." Ezra peered upriver. "Our small tributary here is about to expand."
"Huh?" JD said, puzzled, but he also looked where Ezra was.
"I think he means we'd better get Buck out of the creek, it's rising!" Josiah looked around and ran over to the stout treebranch he spotted. He jogged back to the group and shoved it under the dead horse. Vin joined him and they looked at Chris expectantly.
Nathan was feeling over Buck's chest and Buck drew in a sharp breath when he gently probed his ribs.
"Broken, right?" Buck asked through clenched teeth.
"Yup." Nathan looked at Chris who nodded. If they pulled Buck out the wrong way, his injuries might be the death of him.
Instead the hooked their arm so they supported his torso and grabbed his belt instead. Chris looked to Josiah. "On three?"
Josiah nodded. "One.....two....." Chris prepared himself to pull. "Three!"
Josiah and Vin pushed on the lever they created, forcing some of the weight off of their friend. JD and Ezra pulled on the horses head and tail as Nathan and Chris pulled Buck out. Buck for his part tried to ignore the pain in his side and hoped this would be over soon. Then, with a sudden shifting of the dead animal, he was free.
"Buck?" JD crawled in the mud to his side. "You ok?"
"Never better, kid." Buck grimaced as he shifted to look up at his friends.
"Let's get him out of the creekbed." Vin touched Chris on the shoulder, pointing up the rise.
"JD, you and Ezra and Vin get the horses. Nathan, you and Josiah help me carry him out." Chris brushed aside Buck's weak protest that he could walk.
No sooner had the three with the horses scrambled out of the creekbed, than a torrent of water headed towards the four still down in it.
"Chris!" Ezra shouted, urgency overcoming his usual politeness. "Look out! Flash flood!"
With a muttered curse, Chris knew they didn't have time to be gentle. He slung Buck over his shoulder and ran for the safety of the bank. Josiah and Nathan ahead if him. He watched as first Josiah and then Nathan were helped up the back by the others, then he reached his hand out.
But before they could get a good hold on Chris, the water came, sweeping Chris and Buck away with it.
+ + + + + + +
JD called out in horror as Chris and Buck were torn from their grasp. Vin mutterd a curse and leapt for his horse.
"Follow them!" He called out, "Hurry!"
They mounted their horses and sped after the now raging water. Following the path of the riverbed, they spotted a form clinging to a treebranch by the side. Stopping the horses close to it, Vin was relieved to see the straining form of Chris Larabee clinging to the branch with one hand, holding on to Buck with his other arm.
Chris was holding on with everything he had. The initial impact of the water had driven the wind from his lungs and he was coughing up water when he finally surfaced. He reached out with his hand, not holding onto Buck, grasping for anything to hold on to. It seemed like forever before something smacked into his palm and he grasped it desperately, hoping to pull himself and his friend out. He had to settle for holding on though, Buck was dead weight in his arms. So Chris just held on, praying the others would find them before his strength let out.
"Hang on Chris!" Nathan cried out, pulling his horse to a stop.
The others climbed down off their horses and linked arms. Josiah holding anchor and JD reaching out to Chris. JD leaned out, grabbing Chris' wrist. Chris looked up at the younger man and transfered his grip from the branch to JD's arm.
"Pull!" JD shouted, and the others threw all their strength into pulling them out of the water. With a sudden jerk, they were out, Chris tumbling onto the bank, one arm still around Buck.
Nathan looked at Chris, who was coughing up water. Chris shook his head and waved towards where Buck had ended up, lying face-up next to him.
"Is he alive?" Josiah looked over at JD's anxious face, knowing in his heart, the boy's question was on all thier lips.
Nathan leaned over the lanky gunslinger and put his ear to Buck's chest. He sighed audibly, then rose.
"He's breathin' and his hearts beatin'. He's unconscious, but with all he's been through, I'm not surprised. We need to get him to some shelter, quick." Nathan began to look around for something in which to carry his patient as flat as possible. With all the rough handling, he was afraid the injuries had gotten worse.
"I know there's a cave up the side of the path. It should be big enough for us to all fit in." Chris had risen to his feet, still coughing, and shivering now that he was completely soaked.
"We need to carry Buck as flat as we can... any ideas?" Nathan couldn't see anything to make a travois out of in a hurry.
"How about we use my duster?" Vin said pulling it off and laying it down next to Buck. It looked to be just long enough to work. "How far is the cave from here?"
"Just a little ways, right around that bend and up a few feet." Chris pointed more into the canyon. "I used to use it when Buck and I would wrangle the horses out of this pasture."
Nobody commented on the reminiscing of their leader, instead they concentrated on carrying their friend as carefully as possible up the small incline and around a curve. And then there it was. The cave entrance was partially blocked by some bushes, making it good cover from storms or prying eyes.
Nathan's eyes hardly left his patient's. Buck hadn't moved since the river had carried him and Chris away. Not even a murmmur of pain, a twitch of movement. He lay still, and as they lay him down, Chris faltered, and they almost dumped him on his side. Still he didn't move. Nathan was worried.
Oblivious to his friends efforts, Buck seemed to float on another plain. He felt warm and safe here. He looked around. He seemed to be standing in open rangelands, nothing but earth and sky as far as the eyes could see.
"Hello Buck." A voice called out to him.
Buck turned around, the voice was SO familiar. Then he stared in shock. It couldn't be!
"Sarah?"
The Cave:
Ezra had gone outside to check the horses. There was only enough room for the men, so they had to leave them tied outside. But Chris had been right. The cave was comfortable for them all.
Ezra came back in, soaked to the bone. The last dry blankets had gone to Chris, and Ezra refused to take one from him or Buck's pile. Instead he settled down next to Vin and watched Buck's face for any sign of consciousness.
"I take it there has been no change in our compatriot's condition?" The soft southern drawl filled the area.
"Nothin', " Nathan sighed. "But it's really too soon to be looking for any signs. He had very little endurance left before he got cought by the flash flood, mostly what he needs is what he's doing.. sleeping."
"I suggest we all get some sleep." Chris broke in. "We can take turns watching Buck. Josiah, you and JD take first watch. Ezra, you and Nathan take the second. Vin and I will take the third."
Nathan looked slightly startled at Chris pairing him with Ezra, the man he had least common ground with. But a hasty look at Ezra's face showed no untoward expression, so he relaxed, and tried to go to sleep. The fire Vin had started lulling him to dreamland.
JD looked into the fire. Still thinking dark thoughts. What would he do if Buck died? He had never lost a friend like Buck. Someone as close as a brother. What was he going to do? "It's going to be a long night..."
"Amen, brother." Josiah sighed, and stuck another log on the fire.
Somewhere Else:
"Am I dead?" Buck was suddenly very scared, more scared than he had ever been in his life. What would happen to Chris and the others without him? He couldn't leave them short.
"No." Sarah smiled, easing the tall gunslinger's fears. "You're just here , with me for a short time. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate everything you have done for Chris since Adam and I died. You kept him alive."
"I'm not sure it was for the best until not long ago." Buck admitted. "But I couldn't stand by and see him fade away to nothing."
"I know." Sarah lifted up a hand and touched Buck's cheek. "I'm sorry you were hurt, but it was nice to see you again. Take care of him....and the others. Please?"
"You know I will....." Buck closed his eyes, grief for her death washing over him anew.
Then a sharp pain engulfed him head and he spun into darkness.
The Cave:
Chris stared straight ahead, the companionable silence between him and Vin, not intruding on his private thoughts. On this night of all nights, would he lose his oldest friend too? He had layed flowers on his families graves earlier this very day, mere miles from where Buck had been laying trapped under a dead horse, in danger of losing his life.
Chris shudderd at the thought of Buck dying at all, on any day. At times, he had not wanted his friend around. Reminded him too much of his losses, but in the harsh light of day, he always seemed to count on Buck being around, looking out for him, being at his back in times of trouble. And Chris didn't want to lose that.
Vin sensed what Chris was thinking about and left him alone, instead watching the rythmic breathing of his fallen comrade. His color had come back and he was breathing easier. Nathan had woken him and Chris for the last watch, telling them he and Ezra had bound up Buck's ribs so he'd be ready for light travel whenever he woke up... assuming the concussion didn't cause any further problems.
Suddenly, Buck graoned, and Chris was instantly alert.
"Buck?" Chris whispered, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Uhhhh..." Buck groaned and them winced. "Chris?"
Vin was alarmed slightly at the faintness of his friends voice, but Buck seemed aware of his surroundings and himself.
"Yeah pard." Chris smiled slightly.
Buck forced himself to focus on his friends face. "Thanks"
"For what?" Chris frowned, whar was he talking about.
"Pulling me out from under that horse and getting me out of the water. I thouhgt I was a gonner for sure." Buck tried to grin, but as he took a deep breath, the pain from his ribs forced him to gasp softly.
"Take it easy." Chris looked up as Nathan came over, the conversation having woke him and the others up.
"I'm alright." Buck gave a creditable half-smile. "I know busted ribs."
"Well," Nathan shook his finger at his patient. "Tomorrow is not going to be alot of fun, riding back in your condition."
"You just HAD to remind me." Buck groused, trying not to smile, and failing.
"As soon as it's light, we'll head home." Chris felt mre relieved than he thought he was going to. Buck would be alright, and now there would be time to iron out their recent differences. Chris just hoped Buck didn't hate him for constantly pushing him away. "Until then, get some rest."
Buck nodded and fell back asleep, his dreams pleasant and of home. He knew he would be around for Chris, watching over him, just as he promised Sarah in his dream. He was glad he was alive, it would have been a terrible anniversary for Chris if he had died. The long night gave way to a peaceful sunrise.
The End
